Little Big Town
The last album I purchased was very uncharacteristic of me. It was country. New, current country music, no less.
As with any uncharacteristic music purchase, this one has a back story. And it involves a bar. Heh.
In case you didn’t know, Conway is home to the best bar in the world: The VFW. That’s right, the VFW, or The V, as it is lovingly called. As you would expect, it’s full of old war veterans, including a man that wears an eye patch, and their respective lady friends. Every Friday night at the VFW is karaoke night. It costs two bucks to get in, and they sell pitchers of beer for six bucks. For those unfamiliar, that’s a bargain. I wouldn’t say that I frequent the VFW, but I am on a first-name-basis with the manager, Brandy.
Anyways, one glorious Friday evening my friends and I met at the VFW for a few pitchers and some karaoke (yes, I sing karaoke on occasion, and I’m no good but I don’t care). There were loads of people there, and the crowd was in the mood to party. I wasn’t paying all that much attention to the singers, though I clap and cheer for everyone, and all of the sudden the crowd went wild when this cowboy started singing. By the end of the song, everyone was on their feet, standing up front singing along. I was intrigued. What was this song? Why was everyone going crazy over it? So I did a little investigating among my friends. “It’s Boondocks, Jonelle. You don’t know this song?”
Uh, no. But I wanted to. So when I made it home (the next day) I surfed iTunes until I found it. The band is Little Big Town, the album is The Road to Here. I’m a sucker for a deal and could not allow myself to purchase just one song for $.99 when I could have the whole album, thirteen songs, for $9.99. So I bought the whole album.
I bought an entire album for one song.
Thankfully, the whole album is decent. I actually listen to it in its entirely fairly regularly. The best song is, of course, Boondocks. Because I was raised in the boondocks. And so were all of the people that freaked out over the song at The V. There is something about a song that accurately represents where I was raised that sparks a fire in my heart.
******
I feel no shame
I’m proud of where I came from
I was born and raised in the boondocks
One thing I know
No matter where I go
I keep my heart and soul
In the boondocks
******
It’s not just the words. It’s the music. The twangy, bluesy, slide guitar accompanies a strong, toe-tapping beat and perfect harmonies, making me feel like I’m at a church service in a honky tonk.
But mostly, it is the words. I love where I’m from and can’t imagine having been raised anywhere else on the planet. My favorite place in the world to be is walking up an old dirt road smack dab in the middle of nowhere.
Otherwise known as the boondocks.
Permission to Over-Analyze 
Aaron Marvel said,
March 17, 2008 at 9:56 am
Hello Jonelle. I hope you’re having a good day today. I really liked your blog entry. I know this song and I can see how it would inspire a bar full of cowboys to stand up and cheer. That is one thing about that culture, and for any culture as a matter a fact. They are proud of where they come from. I can’t say that I grew up in the boondocks but I still like to imagine when I sing the song. I have family from the boondocks after all. Haha.
I agree. This is a catchy song with a lot of reminiscing about working hard, learning the backwoods, family life, and church life. I think this song is so popular among the country community because people who listen to country like to think of themselves as rough and tumble cowboys and this song creates , if only for 3 minutes, just that identity within them.
gamertags said,
March 18, 2008 at 3:38 am
This was a lot of fun to read. Maegan and I have thought about going to the VFW for the dancing on the weekend, and we never have. We might have to start going. (I don’t want to encroach, or anything, but we seriously have thought about it in the past.) Is the dancing night the same night as the karaoke night?
The way you said “and their respective lady friends” it made me think of them surrounded by women, hip-hop music video style.
I have to confess that I’m not familiar with this song. But I’m going to look it up now.
Do you ever wonder how legitimate vs. calculated songs about Southern pride (or any identifier, really) are? I mean, on the one hand, there’s a lot to write about when you come from a strong background, but on the other, it’s really easy to sell stuff to people when you’re writing about who they are. I guess it’s the same as the Christian Music Question we were talking about the other day…
gamertags said,
March 18, 2008 at 3:42 am
By the way, about the Herbie Hancock album,
Jazz means a lot of things. It’s almost like saying “rock;” it could be anything from 1950’s shuffles to punk to nu metal (heaven help us). There’s a lot in jazz, from the big band stuff like Rebecca brought in to bebop (emphasis on bright sounds, small ensembles, and really, really fast playing) to blues, to “cool” jazz, to jazz/funk fusion. The album would be a good intro to jazz, but it’s a really specific kind of…I don’t know…like, light jazz? I guess what I’m saying is that if you check it out and don’t dig it, there’s a lot of other stuff out there.